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Rock Can Clinch Home Floor This Weekend

Toronto – The Toronto Rock (7-7) can clinch a home playoff game with a win over the Washington Stealth this Friday night in Everett, Washington.  The East Division title is still within reach as well, but the Rock will need a little help from their friends as Philadelphia holds the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Rock should the two teams finish tied.  The scenarios for each team in the NLL follow below.

The National Lacrosse League’s 2012 regular season is headed down the home stretch with an exciting race to the finish line.  With two weekends of play remaining, all nine teams have unfinished business. The Buffalo Bandits, Edmonton Rush and Washington Stealth are battling to claim one of the two remaining playoff berths.  The Colorado Mammoth and Calgary Roughnecks are fighting for not only the West Division title but home floor advantage throughout the playoffs, which would include the Championship Game. The East Division can still be won by any of its four teams.
 
Here are the playoff scenarios entering the games of April 20 & 21, Week #16 of the season:
 
East Division
 

PHILADELPHIA WINGS (7-7)
Has clinched a playoff berth.  Clinches East Division with two wins OR one win AND one Toronto loss AND one Rochester loss.
 
TORONTO ROCK (7-7)
Has clinched a playoff berth. Clinches East Division with two wins AND one Philadelphia loss. Can also clinch East Division with one win AND two Philadelphia losses OR with one win AND two Rochester wins.
 
ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS (6-8)
Has clinched a playoff berth. Clinches East Division with two wins AND two Toronto losses.
 
BUFFALO BANDITS (5-9)
Clinches a playoff berth with a win over Rochester AND a Washington loss to Toronto this weekend. Can also clinch a playoff berth with a win over Rochester on Saturday AND a Rochester loss to Philadelphia on April 28. Can also clinch playoff berth with a win against Washington on April 28.  Clinches the East Division with two wins AND two Toronto losses AND two Philadelphia losses. 
 
West Division
 

COLORADO (11-3)
Has clinched a playoff berth.  Clinches West Division and top overall seed in playoffs with two wins OR one win AND a Calgary loss to Edmonton.
 
CALGARY (11-4)
Has clinched a playoff berth.  Clinches West Division and top overall seed in playoffs with a win over Edmonton AND one Colorado loss. 
 
MINNESOTA (7-7)
Has clinched a playoff berth. 
 
EDMONTON (5-8)
Clinches a playoff berth with one win in any of their three remaining games OR with a Buffalo loss to Rochester on Saturday OR with one Washington loss. 
 
WASHINGTON (4-10)
Clinches a playoff berth with two wins AND a Rochester win over Philadelphia on April 28. Clinches a playoff berth with a Buffalo loss to Rochester on April 21 AND a Washington win against Buffalo on April 28.
 
The West Division regular season winner (Colorado or Calgary) will have a better record than the East Division winner, so the West winner will be the #1 overall seed, and would have home field advantage throughout the Playoffs and Championship Game.  The East Division winner is automatically the #2 overall seed, and would have home field for all playoff games with the exception of facing the #1 overall seed (West Division regular season title winner) in the Championship Game.
 
The key dates for the remainder of the season and the league rules that are applied for tiebreakers are listed below.
 
About the 2012 National Lacrosse League Playoffs
 

The 2012 NLL Playoffs will begin on the weekend of May 4-6 and take place over three consecutive weekends. Eight teams will advance to the playoffs. All playoff games are single-elimination, and hosted by the higher-seeded team.
 
The four Divisional Semifinal games will open the playoffs on the weekend of May 4-6. The winners advance to the Eastern and Western Divisional Finals on the weekend of May 11-13. The winners advance to the 2012 NLL Championship Game, to be played on the weekend of May 18-20. The 2012 Championship Game, the East & West Division Finals and one game from the Divisional Semifinals will be televised live exclusively on CBS Sports Network.
 
Playoffs Calendar
 

April 28: Final Day of Regular Season
 
Weekend of May 4-6: Divisional Semifinals
 
West #4 at West #1, West #3 at West #2
East #4 at East #1, East #3 at East #2
 
Weekend of May 11-13: Divisional Finals
 
East #1 – #4 winner vs. East #2 – #3 winner, higher seed hosts
West #1 – #4 winner vs. West #2 – #3 winner, higher seed hosts
 
Weekend of May 18-20: NLL Championship Game
 
East vs. West, hosted by higher overall seed
 
Divisional Tiebreakers:
The following is the tiebreaking procedure for clubs having identical won-lost records at the conclusion of the regular season within their division, to determine the order of finish and seeding within the division. Ties within a division are broken first. 

 
a) Head-to-head record during the regular season (best won-lost percentage in games between tied clubs)
b) Win-loss percentage against divisional opponents
c) Win-loss record against common opponents played an equal number of times during the regular season.
d) Goals for/goals (most net points) against in head-to-head match-ups.
e) Per-game goal differential (goals for minus goals against, divided by games played) within Division
f) Total goals for/goals (most net points) against for the regular season.
g) Coin toss.
 
Only one club advances to the playoffs in any tie-breaking step. Remaining tied clubs revert  to the first step of the tiebreakers. The winning team is removed and the tie-breaking procedure is re-applied to the remaining teams.

 
Overall Seeding Tiebreakers:
The following is the tie-breaking procedure for clubs having identical won-lost records at the conclusion of the regular season to determine the Overall Order of Finish and Overall Playoff Seeding:

 
a) Head-to-head record during the regular season(best won-lost percentage in games between tied clubs)
b) Win-loss record against common opponents played an equal number of games during the regular season.
c) Goals for/goals (most net points) against in head-to-head match-ups.
d) Total goals for/goals against (most net points) for the regular season.
e) Coin toss.

Toronto Rock